This is an incredibly moving story that Jimmy Kimmel told on his show. His newborn son was born with a heart defect and needed immediate surgery. Kimmel could afford it, but he realized that many families could not. He made an emotional statement to his audience. He said this is not a partisan issue. We are all on the same team.
He ended with a plea for both sides of the aisle in the health-care debate. “If your baby is going to die, and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make. I think that’s something now, whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, or something else, we all agree on that, right?” Kimmel said, as the audience applauded. “Whatever your party, whatever you believe, whoever you support, we need to make sure that people who are supposed to represent us — and people who are meeting about this right now in Washington — understand that very clearly. Let’s stop with the nonsense. This isn’t football, there are no teams. We are the team, it’s the United States. Don’t let their partisan squabbles divide us on something every decent person wants. We need to care of each other.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Kimmel makes a good point. We need single payer health care system, and we need to remove heath care from the marketplace where CEOs of insurance companies make millions a year. A single payer system would give the people unparalleled bargaining power to reduce costs and reign in expenses. Unfortunately, the lobbyists will work hard to prevent this much needed form of “socialism” that would benefit working families.
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Well stated. It’s not about the AHA, or whatever the present POTUS derives, it’s come to exactly what you said, a single payer for all Citizens of the USA.
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As long as you have suited up fat cats and administrators in the medical field nothing will change. I recently endured a terrible bout with Rhabdomyolysis. I spent 5 days in the hospital and the only thing I received was fluids (normal saline) for the entirety of my stay. I also had a few blood tests (8 to be exact) to measure CPK levels. I refused any meds. The total cost of my stay you ask? $45,000. What a racket!
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“The lobbyists” will try to prevent single payer health care?
Yes, them, too, but also add the likes of Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats who’ve publicly stated that we’ll “never, ever” have single payer.
Oh, and regarding Jimmy Kimmel’s optimistic but naive statement that “we all agree” that children with life-threatening medical issues should receive treatment, the fact is that, no, we apparently don’t all agree, and you can throw prominent members of the Democratic Party in that group, as well.
Just as the Overclass is tired of paying to provide a decent public education for all children, so too will it try stop universal health insurance, by any means necessary; they’re just so over that old-fashioned idea of “the common good.”
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I am a Shriner. Our network of orthopaedic and burns hospitals are world-class. We charge every patient the same, nothing. No charge. Medical care, transportation, lodging/meals for the parents and siblings, all free. Wheelchairs, artificial limbs, physical therapy, modifications to homes (wheelchair ramps), etc. all free. Burns patients (and families) often suffer psychological problems like guilt and shame. All psychiatric care is free. We even fly in children from foreign countries, again all free.
If you know of a child, who can benefit from our hospitals, please call 1-800-235-8055 or visit
https://www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org/
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Thanks for the work you do for Shriners, Chas!
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Good for Jimmy Kimmel–we need more spokespeople like him. Not wishing his family’s distress on others (so glad his child is well), in this country, it appears that celebrities are taken much more seriously than almost anyone else.
Keep talking, Jimmy, & thanks!
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Love you, Shriners! Just sent a check in honor of my great nephew’s birthday–he’s 8, said he has too many toys & instead of spending money for a present, do something for another 8-year-old (I type, my eyes tearing up).
Would that the Waltons, the Gates and the Kochs be so generous (to their workers & to the rest of the 99%–& I’m not talkin’ about having your name on an auditorium, art museum or–especially not!–a charter school!
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The right-to-lifer crowd that wants the “freedom” to make abortion illegal should also support the right of a child to have proper medical care when needed and live life with a nutritious diet without hunger.
Has the right-to-life movement ever talked about all the other needs of children after birth?
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Access to affordable health care should be a right as it is in the rest of the industrialized world.
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Beautiful. The difference between Jimmy Kimmel’s empathy and compassion, and that of Conservative thinkers, is that his reaches beyond the immediate sphere of his personal circle. Celebrities are often criticized (usually by Conservatives) for having political views.
However, performers have deep ties to liberal arts and the humanities. (Formal or informal education.) They question, which is the corner stone of critical thinking. They connect the dots on a large scale. They know that the fine feelings of love, compassion, joy are not just personal emotions, but that they belong to all of humanity.
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“If your baby is going to die, and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make. I think that’s something now, whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, or something else, we all agree on that, right?”
Wrong.
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In response to Lloyd’s last question: https://www.care-net.org/abundant-life-blog/three-myths-of-the-pro-life-movement-exposed
I was involved in a “Pregnancy Counseling Center” once (’70’s). A place to go to talk women out of having abortions. They never offered any support for the care of the child after it was born.
This 2016 article states it well; the words AND actions of the movement.
“Faith without deeds…”?
Tell me.
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“If your baby is going to die, and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make. I think that’s something now, whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, or something else, we all agree on that, right?”
Well, you would think so, but you’d be wrong. This ex congressman, conservative radio host, and miserable excuse for a human being says: “Sorry Jimmy Kimmel: your sad story doesn’t obligate me or anybody else to pay for somebody else’s health care.”
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Who is “John” here? The ex-congressman, conservative radio host, and miserable excuse for a human being…” who says “Sorry…” nothing “obligates me or anybody else to pay for …”. Do you, John, “pay” for anyone else but yourself? Maybe the military industrial complex taken from your hard working taxes?
I suspect you don’t pay for anybody else’s education either.
Except maybe those you care to pay for (other than yourself, that is).
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stiegem,
I posted a quote from someone I called a “miserable excuse for a human being” and you attribute his thoughts to me?
My point was that, as unbelievable as it seems, there are people who disagree with Jimmy Kimmel’s assertion that no baby should die because of their parent(s) lack of money.
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Let me add to Kimmel’s missive:
No one, adult or child should have to die or suffer because of an inability to afford healthcare and treatment, period, end of story. Child or adult, this is not about age; it’s about being human.
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So, John is Joe here. Lovely.
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America continues to face the ugly reality of what that electoral college majority voted for back in December. Jimmy lays it bare. Will rich children survive while middle and working class kids die?
To paraphrase Joseph Welsh, has Trump no sense of decency?
For how much longer will our elected representatives and the citizenry continue to tolerate his shameful leadership?
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To further your thought, John, that same “no sense of decency” question can & should be asked of many, many legislators, as well.
Who was that numbskull who asked why he should have to pay for prenatal care? Or Ted Cruz–stating in a Cruz-Sanders Town Hall Healthcare Debate–that people can’t all have Cadillacs (comparing health care to Cadillacs–you should have seen the expression on Bernie’s face!). Or how about the Congressman wh’d said that people should just not spend so much money on the latest Smartphone & spend it on insurance instead?
And the latest slap in the face–many legislators who think that it’s okay to go back to excluding those w/pre-existing conditions, & why should healthy people who take care of their health have to pay for those among us who are sick?
A much larger number of people in power (who, BTW, receive the gold standard–Cadillac–of healthcare, as it stands, covering their entire families). Not to mention, & that’s all on OUR dime.
So perhaps they’re not “entitled” to healthcare, either.
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